Pajero Peril

We've all been there, haven't we, motoring along the highway behind some oversized four-wheel drive that completely blocks our view.

If view were all that mattered it would be annoying enough but road safety depends, as the limerick says, on knowing who's doing what and to whom. Four-wheel drives constitute a threat to following motorists who can no longer see the road ahead and may discover suddenly, and to their peril, that danger is upon them.

All that will change in the near future if Werrington inventor Herman Nutznboltz has anything to do with it.

A recent immigrant from Germany, Mr Nutznboltz has designed a computerised, retractable periscope for motor vehicles. Complete with video screen on the dashboard, the Eye-Spy can extend vertically to peer over the tallest Toorak tractor or laterally to see past it.

It has been hailed by motoring organisations and road safety experts alike.

Speaking from the intensive care ward at Nepean Hospital, Mr Nutznboltz admitted there were problems still to be solved with lateral deployment but has postponed further research on the Eye-Spy  until after his release.

He is recovering from injuries sustained after a lateral extension accidentally dislodged the leader of a passing outlaw motor cycle gang.